through thick and thin, and there's my hand on it."

"Have you found out what's the reason?" I asked.

"Not yet," said Case. "But we'll fix them down to-morrow."

Altogether I was pretty well pleased with his attitude, and almost
more the next day, when we met to go before the chiefs, to see him
so stern and resolved. The chiefs awaited us in one of their big
oval houses, which was marked out to us from a long way off by the
crowd about the eaves, a hundred strong if there was one - men,
women, and children. Many of the men were on their way to work and
wore green wreaths, and it put me in thoughts of the 1st of May at
home. This crowd opened and buzzed about the pair of us as we went
in, with a sudden angry animation. Five chiefs were there; four
mighty stately men, the fifth old and puckered. They sat on mats
in their white kilts and jackets; they had fans in their hands,
like fine ladies; and two of the younger ones wore Catholic medals,
which gave me matter of reflection. Our place was set, and the
mats laid for us over against these grandees, on the near side of
the house; the midst was empty; the crowd, close at our backs,
murmured and craned and jostled to look on, and the shadows of them
tossed in front of us on the clean pebbles of the floor. I was
just a hair put out by the excitement of the commons, but the quiet
civil appearance of the chiefs reassured me, all the more when
their spokesman began and made a long speech in a low tone of
voice, sometimes waving his hand towards Case, sometimes toward me,
and sometimes knocking with his knuckles on the mat. One thing was
clear: there was no sign of anger in the chiefs.